Every NFL team has played at least half of its games, which means it's time to look back on—and complain about—the first half of the season.

Some fan bases know exactly what there is to complain about. (The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars come to mind.) Others, such as the 7-1 Denver Broncos, may have a tough time at the water cooler coming up with something negative to say. But careful film analysis of all 32 teams shows that they all have tactical shortcomings, even the teams that seem to be riding high.

To help you be a well-informed downer while discussing your favorite franchise, below is an in-depth guide to what every team in the league is doing wrong.

Arizona Cardinals

Aggressive cornerbacks such as Arizona's Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu are great in a perfect world. But in this world, the Cardinals' flat-footed safeties are late to help on seemingly every play, creating the rarest of possible combinations: elite cornerbacks and a porous pass defense.

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Atlanta offensive tackle Lamar Holmes, center
Associated Press

Atlanta Falcons

Shield your eyes when they run to the left side, where the Falcons' tackle platoon of Lamar Holmes and Sam Baker can't build a wall and runners can't even run three yards without being swarmed by even mediocre defenses. Tight end Tony Gonzalez, an elite pass catching tight end who sometimes stays home to block, doesn't help.

Baltimore Ravens

Quarterback Joe Flacco doesn't look like the deep-passing maestro he once did, but that is a function of defenses not respecting the run game. An insane 58% of the Ravens' runs go for two yards or fewer, the most in the NFL. When safeties and linebackers aren't trying to stop the run, they are sitting back and playing those deep passes.

Buffalo Bills

The Bills' elite group of defensive linemen and linebackers keep most runs contained, but look out if the opposition sneaks behind those seven guys. Buffalo's defensive backfield offers little resistance: The Bills have allowed 37 plays over 20 yards, among the worst in the league.

Carolina Panthers

Quarterback Cam Newton is a fine runner and the team's most productive rusher (4.6 yards per carry), but he must learn how to take a sack. His average loss of 8.1 yards each time he takes a sack is an indication he often runs backward when avoiding a rush—which only exaggerates the problem.

Chicago Bears

The Bears' defensive approach is getting one-on-one matchups between the opponent's offensive linemen and their defensive ends. Julius Peppers on the right side should be disrupting the quarterback routinely. Instead, no Bears defensive end seems to be able to shed a block. The Bears' pass rush has been comically ineffective against decent blocking.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals' dominant defensive line keeps the heat off a mediocre linebacking crew that gets credit for its gaudy tackle statistics. Could it be that they tackle so many players because they allow so many plays to be made in front of them?

Cleveland Browns

Brandon Weeden was one of the most inaccurate passers in the NFL, but in offensive coordinator Norv Turner's "vertical" offense, he still threw deep. According to Pro Football Focus, Weeden completed five of 20 passes over 20 yards. Replacement Jason Campbell is somehow worse.

Dallas Cowboys

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin's defense is supposed to stop deep passing games in their tracks. That hasn't happened this season, but don't blame the defensive backs entirely—the linebackers, who are pivotal for picking up underneath passes that can undermine the entire defense, haven't done a good enough job to make the defensive backs' lives easier.

Denver Broncos

Quarterback Peyton Manning's offense should be a dream for running backs—his brand of at-the-line audibles ensures that if they are running the ball, it's going toward a favorable matchup. But none of Denver's running backs, from Knowshon Moreno to Montee Ball, have been able to hit those big plays. Worse, they have gone down on first contact.

Detroit Lions

Seriously: Detroit's Calvin Johnson may be the greatest covered receiver of all time. The Lions should throw to him no matter how many defenders are on him, and make that throw as deep as possible. Quarterback Matthew Stafford does a nice job of that, but not nearly enough. He throws the ball within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage more than any quarterback in the NFL. Matthew, here's a new play call: Calvin, go deep!

Houston Texans

The Texans' offensive line is inconsistent at best—they lead the league in running outside the left tackle but can barely run to their right. They run so many bootlegs (fake handoffs in which the quarterback reverses field) that there should be plenty of open field for the offense. But there hasn't been.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts took a noble gamble and traded for bruising running back Trent Richardson, who hasn't bruised anything but his own ego so far. He hasn't hit holes well.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars' new defensive system uses the "LEO" position, a defensive end who lines up wide and gets favorable, one-on-one matchups on the outside while the other three defensive linemen suck up blockers. But even with a defense designed to get sacks, the Jaguars have just 11 sacks.

Kansas City Chiefs

The 9-0 Chiefs have been outstanding defensively; their blitzes are disrupting every quarterback they face. But their odd alignments and unbalanced blitzes have left a hole in the middle of the field, where opposing runners average 5.3 yards per carry, almost the worst in the league.

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Miami running back Daniel Thomas, center
Associated Press

Miami Dolphins

Miami's most common lineup, with speedy running back Lamar Miller, averages an outstanding 6.3 yards per game. Yet the Dolphins have an inexplicable habit of playing the bigger Daniel Thomas. They average two fewer yards per play with him in place of Miller, yet do it often.

Minnesota Vikings

Running back Adrian Peterson's huge runs aren't coming like they used to. You can blame his blockers. Their inability to get rid of linebackers and safeties are the reason he's on pace to have about 65% less 15-plus yard runs this season than last.

New England Patriots

The Patriots can't keep a drive alive. The problem is the routes that their no-name receivers are running. New England averages 1½ fewer yards per play on third down than on first and second because they aren't gambling with deep routes like they used to.

New Orleans Saints

Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has turned the NFL's worst defense into one of its best, but aside from the pass rush, there are still glaring holes. The Saints can't stop the run, a function of below-average inside linebackers and overeager defensive linemen.

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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, left
Associated Press

New York Giants

Quarterback Eli Manning is the league's least-accurate quarterback off play action, according to Pro Football Focus. Defensive backs never buy that the Giants are running. Why? On third down, the Giants have run 100 pass plays and 10 rushing plays. They throw more than pass in every scenario—even third down and under two yards to go. Why should a defensive back bother respecting the run?

New York Jets

Coach Rex Ryan trusts his cornerbacks, an admirable trait. But the aggressive shtick can get you in hot water, as it often does with Kyle Wilson and Antonio Cromartie, whose aggressive brand of one-on-one play works only for elite cornerbacks such as former Jet Darrelle Revis. The airtight coverage is the reason the Jets allow so many huge plays.

Oakland Raiders

Oakland lacks depth, which means they have to rely on their individual stars. They have a talented quarterback in Terrelle Pryor, but Pryor's insistence on keeping the ball too long in the pocket doesn't help his patchwork offensive line and contributes to the Raiders' heavy sack rate.

Philadelphia Eagles

Highly drafted rookie tackles have struggled this season, but Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson has been especially bad. Despite the fact that the Eagles run almost all of their plays—over 90%—out of the shotgun formation, Eagles quarterbacks still have been sacked 25 times.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Offenses are faster than they were 20 years ago. The Steelers' old-school, plodding, attack-them-at-the-line style of defense devastates passing games, but that leaves them open to huge running plays. This season, those have come often against the 2-6 Steelers.

St. Louis Rams

St. Louis is phasing out the linebacker, rarely playing more than two. That is fine, and innovative. The problem is that the Rams' risky defensive backs get beat too often and can't help the linebackers, who have allowed 10 rushing plays over 20 yards—second-worst in the NFL.

San Diego Chargers

A confounding offensive strategy takes running backs who don't thrive going up the middle (Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead) and run them up the middle more than anyone in the NFL. The results, unsurprisingly, have been poor.

San Francisco 49ers

Eventually, Colin Kaepernick will have to pass the ball. That is a problem, since he is the league's least-accurate starter when under pressure. Sometime in the playoffs, on a third-and-long, look for teams to pounce on this weakness.

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Seattle guard Paul McQuistan, center
Associated Press

Seattle Seahawks

Injuries have depleted the offensive line, leaving poor Paul McQuistan starting at left tackle. You can't blame injuries on the Seahawks, but you can blame them for McQuistan's lack of help. When healthy, Seattle's best plays feature tight ends and other big bodies helping the tackles knock defenders on their butt. McQuistan is too often left to stop an elite pass rusher by himself.

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Tampa Bay cornerback Darrelle Revis, left
Tampa Bay Times/Zuma Press

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

You could complain about virtually everything, but nothing should overshadow the fact that Revis, the league's best one-on-one cornerback, has been playing zone coverage instead of the famed "Revis Island" style of defense, in which he locks on to the team's top opposing wide receiver. (That is, the receiver gets marooned on the island.) Think of buying a Ferrari and using it to run errands around town.

Tennessee Titans

A big-hitting safety such as Bernard Pollard is good to have around, but someone needs to actually play pass coverage. The Titans give up a 62% completion percentage, among the worst in the league. Many of those passes take advantage of an overaggressive secondary.

Washington Redskins

The Redskins' idea of a perfectly executed play? Quarterback Robert Griffin III fakes a handoff or a run, safeties are drawn toward him and he finds a wide receiver over the middle for a huge play. This season, though, no one believes he will actually run, after his knee injury last season, and it shows. The Redskins haven't had a play of over 45 yards this season—the only NFL team that hasn't.

5-10% of the players are responsible adults, the rest are all a bunch of neighborhood threats that are only out of jail by virtue of the fact they have a well paying job, most will only have the money for a short period while they play.

I love it but I am sick of the degenerate behavior and the societal threat many of them are.

This guy Cromartie has something on the order of 13 kids with 10 different baby mommas. What the hell kind of contribution is that?

The author says, "The Steelers' old-school, plodding, attack-them-at-the-line style of defense devastates passing games, but that leaves them open to huge running plays."

What the h-ll does that mean? How does that relate to the current failures of the Steeler defense? How could that be true of any defense?

For starters, the Steelers rarely if ever run the press defense. Second, more often than not they run man coverage, which lately has been a huge failure and would not involve jamming at the line. Third, the next most frequent coverage scheme would be the zone blitz which is unpredictable by definition and would provide good secondary coverage and stop long runs should those develop.

So readers aren't misled by an author who knows nothing of the subject, the Steelers have been getting killed because they have a weak middle five, with the exception of Timmons, and a front seven that doesn't cut it. That means corners and safeties are often force to play quasi-linebacker positions which often puts them out of position, making them susceptible to both the pass and the run.

Hence they suck in every way possible.

Last Sunday the Steelers suffered the worst beating in the 80 year history of the franchise, giving up a record 55 points and a record 610 yards, of which 413 were in the air. That directly contradicts the author's statement.

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